Canada third at Pan Am championships

EDMOND, Oklahoma (October 12, 2013) - With a berth in next year’s world championships on the line Canada lost 25-10, 25-18, 24-26, 25-15 to the U.S. on Saturday in semifinal action at the 2013 ParaVolley Pan American Sitting Volleyball Zone Championships.

The Americans advance to the final against Brazil on Sunday. Those countries grab the two available spots that were available for next year’s world championships in Poland.

“We struggled executing our system this weekend but we continued to try and battle through it,” said Canadian captain Austin Hinchey of Edmonton. “That showed in the third set when we showed a lot of heart and pulled out a close win. We need to go back to work now and find the consistency in our game that we know we need to have in order to compete with these teams.”

Head coach Ray Sewell is confident Canada is on the right path.

“This is obviously not the result we wanted,” Sewell said. “Moving forward this gives us a good idea of where we need to go with the program. A positive out of this weekend was seeing some of new athletes who were given the opportunity to compete able contribute in a positive way.”

Jose Rebelo of Montreal led the Canadian offence with 10 points on eight kills, an ace and a block.